1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the automated maintenance and repair of computer peripherals, connected to computers by a network or port, and interfaced to the computers by means of driver software. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for diagnosing and repairing printers and printer drivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the personal computer was first introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s, peripheral devices, such as printers, modems, scanners, and other such devices had to be custom designed to work with every type of PC. A printer, for example, required a hardware interface that would connect with the proprietary port of a given PC or else a bus card that would interface with the particular bus design of the PC. Then, in order for programs to be able to communicate with such peripheral devices, the manufacturer of the devices had to provide special driver software that would interface either with the computer's operating system or else with particular programs.
By the 1990s, the situation had improved somewhat with the introduction of fairly standardized hardware interfaces for peripheral devices. These include the standardized Ethernet connector, which can network to many peripherals; the standardized universal serial bus port (USB port) which can also support the addressing of many different peripherals; and the modern PC parallel port, which includes a number of protocols for bi-directional communications between a PC and a peripheral standardized as IEEE Standard 1284. These have displaced almost entirely earlier ports and protocols on both Apple and IBM PC compatible computers worldwide. In addition, modern operating systems on both Apple and IBM PC computers have standardized the interface between individual programs and peripheral device driver software to such an extent that peripheral drivers, while still having to be customized to particular printers, can now have a standard interface with the operating systems which, unfortunately, still come in different incompatible varieties.
Further advances have occurred in the abilities of operating systems to enumerate the specific identities of various peripherals connected to a computer. For example, through a protocol known as “Plug-and-Play,” all of the modern Microsoft Windows operating systems, starting with version 95, are now able to interrogate their various buses and portals to determine what peripheral devices are connected to a computer. Peripheral devices have also been designed to respond to such enumeration requests by not only identifying themselves, but also by identifying in some manner the driver software which they require, such that operating systems may then prompt the user to find and present the appropriate driver software for installation as part of the operating system to support the operation of each such peripheral.
All of this standardization has promoted keen competition among peripheral product designers. They may equip their peripherals with one of a very small number of hardware interfaces, and then they need merely supply driver software appropriate to the printer and matching the specifics of the operating system installed on the computer. All of this has made it fairly simple to connect up to a new peripheral device, to install its driver, and to have it operating. In most cases, a new peripheral and its driver may be installed while a computer is operating, although it may need to be restarted to complete the driver installation.
In spite of all these advances, the vendors of peripherals still find that their users have a difficult time keeping them fully operative, and accordingly numerous telephone support requests are received from customers whose printers or other peripherals are not operating properly. Of these calls, only about 10 percent result from hardware-specific problems arising because a specific printer, for example, malfunctions mechanically or electrically. The remainder relate to various software problems—about ninety percent of all calls received.
In many cases, the user's problem may be identified by performing simple tests to see if a peripheral is installed, running, and communicating with the computer. Some problems may be solved by providing the user with a newer version of a driver or by reinstalling the existing driver. In other cases, the problem may be traced to a data spooler shutdown or to the user having filled up a hard disk upon which the spooler for a printer or other peripheral is located, thereby disabling the data spooler. While skilled technicians and even many computer technicians can resolve these types of problems with little assistance, many computer owners, users, and operators lack the technical expertise to figure out how to detect and solve such problems on their own.
With respect to printers, common printer problems often fall into one of the following scenarios:
The printer was never installed properly.
The printer is not able to communicate with the PC.
The computer is using an incorrect printer driver. Typically, the customer has installed the printer but has installed an incorrect driver, one not suited for the particular printer.
The computer is using an older, outdated version of the driver. The driver vendor may have a newer version of the driver, but the customer doesn't know about this and is not benefiting from fixes and enhancements to the software.
The customer is using an incorrect driver for the operating system installed on the computer. This typically occurs when a customer upgrades to a different operating system and only then discovers that the drivers installed on the computer no longer work with the newly installed operating system.
The computer is using a printer driver having a chosen human language that differs from that of the operating system and of the user. For example, an English language driver may be installed with an operating system that is set to work in Spanish for a Spanish speaking user.
The printer driver did not successfully install completely. For example, some of its dependent files are not installed upon the PC or are otherwise damaged or incorrect.
With the Windows operating systems NT, 2000, and XP, an error may have occurred in the operating system's print spooling services, and accordingly, print jobs cannot be “spooled” because those services are no longer running.
Finally, and related to above, if the print spooling is done on a local hard drive, the disk may be overly filled, and there may not be enough hard disk space for spooling to occur.
A number of automated services are known that can assist one in detecting and correcting some of these problems. Among others, Microsoft's “Windows Update” service is now able to detect the drivers associated with the Windows 2000 and XP operating systems, to check an external database of driver updates, and to present the user with a list of suggested updated versions of driver software for installation on a computer. But other than proposing upgrades for drivers, this service does not otherwise assist in diagnosing hardware and software problems originating in peripherals, their drivers, or their connections, and in exploring and presenting possible solutions.
Hewlett-Packard has an “Instant Support” service which includes and utilizes software designed by Motive Communications. When a customer wishes this form of support, the “client” computer belonging to the customer downloads and receives a program called “Tuner” that maintains an updated set of web pages (and the like) on the customer's computer that can assist the customer with various self-service tasks as well as with seeking assistance. One embodiment of the present invention utilizes this Tuner software as one of its elements.